Surely, any author's dream is to be able to walk into the world they've created in their book. Plenty of writers have been afforded virtually that experience as their books have been adapted to film, but perhaps no one has realized this dream so intensely as Brian Selznick when he visited the set for the Nov. 23 release "Hugo," based on his 2007 book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret. " The film — director Martin Scorsese's first geared toward a young audience — was shot on a full-scale train station set built from scratch, directly inspired by Selznick's illustrations.

QUITO, Ecuador - As the four-car train rolls through the clouds and begins its descent of the Andes, Bette Bleeker has a practical concern. "I hope someone checked the brakes," the Chicago resident asks. It's a fair question, given the 1,755-foot descent we're about to make on the Devil's Nose, one of the steepest sections of railroad in the world. The historic route requires several switchbacks, including one length where the train reverses direction and heads backward as it gingerly stair-steps down the highlands.

The first air-duct cleaning in 12 years at Grand Central Terminal kicked up clouds of dust in a shopping area filled with holiday consumers Wednesday, requiring 23 people to get treatment for breathing problems. Nine people were taken to the hospital for "respiratory difficulty," an Emergency Medical Service spokesman said. Train service was not affected.

Los Angeles Metro officials are throwing Union Station a 75 th birthday party on Saturday, May 3, and the public is invited. Special events , scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., include model train displays from Orange County N'gineers, tours of custom rail cars, architectural tours, children's activities connected with the kids' TV show “Chuggington” and a daylong program of live music that includes Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles (an...

For years I contemplated selling my car and riding a bicycle to work. I would ride to the Tustin train station four miles from my Irvine home on a bike path that would put me just half a mile from the station. From there I would take the Metrolink train to work in downtown Los Angeles. But the few times I tried riding my road bike, I was exhausted by the time I got home. Getting there was easy - all downhill - but coming home was sheer agony, grinding up hills after a long workday.

The Santa Clarita Metrolink station was evacuated for two hours Thursday night after a commuter reported a suspicious object that turned out to be a brick used as a door stop, according to authorities. The incident occurred just after 5 p.m. at the station in the 22100 block of Soledad Canyon Road, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

I am writing this letter to voice my extreme displeasure at the city of San Juan Capistrano. It recently enacted an ordinance to charge for parking at the San Juan Capistrano station, which became effective Saturday. Several years ago the city attempted to do this and was forced to drop such action. The Commuters Assn. was assured at that time that the city would never institute paid parking. Well, they've gone against their word. I live in South Laguna. I have no choice but to use the San Juan Capistrano station.

The Van Nuys Amtrak/Metrolink station will add 115 parking spots, officials said. Caltrans allocated $1.6 million to acquire the property and build the additional parking spaces for the station, on Van Nuys Boulevard north of Saticoy Street. On Wednesday, the City Council approved the transfer of funds to the city for the project. The station currently has 229 parking spots and has had increased use by both Metrolink and Amtrak passengers.

SHANGHAI - At least 28 people died and more than 113 were injured Saturday when a group of assailants wielding large knives stormed into a railway station in southern China and apparently attacked people at random, state-run media reported. President Xi Jinping vowed swift action to punish those responsible for the bloody attack and "suppress terrorists' rampant momentum," the official New China News Agency reported. The agency said separatists from the far western region of Xinjiang were behind the highly unusual and terrifying attack in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province.

MOSCOW - A suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to a railway station in Volgograd, an industrial city in southern Russia, killing at least 15 people and injuring 43, officials said, in an attack that sent jitters through the country as the Winter Olympics in Sochi approach. No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's deadly bombing, one of several to hit southern Russian in recent months. Volgograd is close to the troubled Caucasus region, where Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov has vowed to use "maximum force" to prevent Russia from staging the Olympics, which he called "satanic games held on the bones of our ancestors.

BEIJING - On the first Sunday of March, China awoke to sickening news: Black-clad attackers with knives had hacked through crowds at the train station in the southern city of Kunming, killing 29 and injuring more than 140. Reporters leaped into action, gathering details from victims in their hospital beds. President Xi Jinping urged all-out efforts to investigate the slaughter. The incident was quickly dubbed "China's 9/11. " But by nightfall Monday, the state-run New China News Agency signaled that it was time to move on. "Kunming railway station serious violent terror case is successfully solved," its headline said.

BEIJING - The eight knife-wielding attackers who went on a deadly rampage in a southwestern China train station had tried to leave the country several times but were unable to and then decided to “carry out 'jihad'” in the city of Kunming, the Communist Party chief in Yunnan province said. Four of the assailants - three men and a woman - were shot dead by police at the scene of Saturday's attack at the Kunming train station that left 29 other people dead, and another female suspect was wounded and detained.

SHANGHAI - At least 28 people died and more than 113 were injured Saturday when a group of assailants wielding large knives stormed into a railway station in southern China and apparently attacked people at random, state-run media reported. President Xi Jinping vowed swift action to punish those responsible for the bloody attack and "suppress terrorists' rampant momentum," the official New China News Agency reported. The agency said separatists from the far western region of Xinjiang were behind the highly unusual and terrifying attack in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama is scheduled to tour a revived train station in the Midwest on Wednesday to extol the benefits of federal spending on light-rail, roads and bridges as he tries to prod Congress to take up a major transportation bill this year. During a visit to St. Paul, Minn.'s freshly renovated Union Depot, Obama is to outline a four-year, $302-billion transportation plan, the White House said. If Congress doesn't act to renew infrastructure programs, more than 700,000 jobs will be at risk, Obama plans to say. The president's warning may be a bit premature.

This post has been corrected. See note below. A man has been arrested in connection with last week's fatal stabbing on the Metro Red Line in East Hollywood, officials said Sunday. Angelo Correia , 24, was arrested Friday after investigators served a search warrant at his home in North Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He is being held on $1 million bail. Homicide investigators received an anonymous tip that led them to the suspect and his residence, the department said.

A man was just sitting in his seat on a Red Line train when another passenger walked up to him and fatally stabbed him before fleeing at the next stop in East Hollywood, sheriff's officials said Tuesday. No weapon has been found and no one has been arrested in Monday's killing of 34-year-old Jose Velazco-Alvarado, officials said. Velazco-Alvarado was stabbed about 9:18 a.m. and taken to a hospital in grave condition when the train stopped at the Vermont/Santa Monica station, said Metro spokesman Marc Littman.

A tractor trailer that witnesses said didn't seem to slow down rammed into a crowded bus shelter and a Chicago Transit Authority train station, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others. The truck smashed into the street-level bus shelter without warning, then "climbed the stairs" of the north stairwell, said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. The truck's driver was treated at a hospital and released. Police took him into custody.

At least seven people were killed by a bomb blast in India's Punjab state, the first major attack in the region since a pro-Sikh party took power in February, police said. The blast near a train station in Jalandhar, a business hub in the northern state bordering Pakistan, also injured 10 and destroyed a vehicle belonging to the paramilitary Border Security Forces.

MOSCOW - A suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to a railway station in Volgograd, an industrial city in southern Russia, killing at least 15 people and injuring 43, officials said, in an attack that sent jitters through the country as the Winter Olympics in Sochi approach. No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's deadly bombing, one of several to hit southern Russian in recent months. Volgograd is close to the troubled Caucasus region, where Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov has vowed to use "maximum force" to prevent Russia from staging the Olympics, which he called "satanic games held on the bones of our ancestors.

The new pilot program at Union Station that forbids people who are not holding train tickets to sit in the waiting room seats is another sad reminder of the city's desperate homelessness problem - and of how difficult it is to balance the rights of Los Angeles' most vulnerable citizens with the rights of others to go about their business safely and without fear or harassment. The pilot program was instituted this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because, MTA officials say, about 135 homeless people a night were descending on the station, intimidating travelers with aggressive panhandling, taking over the bathrooms and sprawling across seats.